Hey Guys, I have a friend in Los Angeles who has an MC12 that he is willing to sell to me.It's a 1997 with a Series 50 with the B500 trans and he is asking 15K for it.Its been a west coast bus all it's life.

The questions that I have are,

1. Are these any better on hills than a 6V92?As far as going up a steep grade a little faster than 30MPH ?

2. Are they as prone to overheating in the extreme heat ? Especially in the mountains of the south west ?

3. Besides the drive train. What is the difference between an MC12 and an MC9 ?

The reason I'm interested is , I have heard stories of road service guys refusing to work on older MCI's because of the 2 stroke engine.Also, this particular bus has already been stripped inside in preparation for the conversion.

The people I talked to with S50's in their MC-9's bragged on them a lot. Some had changed from 8V-92T, and they felt they had picked up in performance, most due to the added torque meaning higher hp in the lower rpm range. One person was cooling it with one normal MC-9 radiator, not two. I priced out an install and came up with $15K to put one in my bus, me doing all the work, so that may relate to the asking price for this bus. You could look at it as getting a free bus, but paying for the engine and transmission.

The series 50 is a fair engine not a great engine they were only around for 7 or so years,we removed 1 and replaced it with C13 Cat the owner was never happy with the 50 series but some people are and some not, those were not factory installed they were done at Stewart and Stevenson in Houston the state of CA picked up tab

Others have said that the S50 is nota bad engine since it seems to fit without too much trouble into MC9's and 12's. The only thing about it is that you'll have to live with the fact that it's a 4 popper. I don't care how much power or torque it has, you can't really get around that it will sound like Pinto or Chevette.

The MCI 12 were built by MCI with the series for Grayhound and the presion buses. They were not after market. I don't think you could tell the difference in sound from a series 50 and a series 60. The only problem with the MCI 12 is that it is still a 96 in wide bus.Jack

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Clifford, I just bought one vin number IM8RCMUA0WP050097 That was built by MCI for Grayhound. It came out of the factory with the series 50 and B500. One of my friends bought a a 98 MCI 12 last month that was built by MCI. The only ones that I have seen converted by Stewart and Stevenson were Model 9. They still had the Allison 740 transmission, and a 3.33 rear end.

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$15k is too high, without some serious justification, note the price quoted in the earlier post of $4800...

My warning would be to ask this: Why is the shell being abandoned at this point of turning the corner, seats out, ready to go forward? What did they find?

Yes, the S50 and B500 is a lovely combination in a coach of that size. It will haul itself up hill quite smartly. Never mind the mumbling about the S50, in busnut service, it will be lovely.

They will only overheat if the cooling system is crapola, which just needs some maintenance to fix.

MC12 vs MC9, a number of differences, smoother roof cap, the chassis below the floor is a 96A3, square tail and head lights from factory and a whole bunch of other little fairly meaningless things. Many/most cannot tell the difference between them without being a certified drooling busnut.

I have driven one of these S50/B500 for all of 3 hours in a line run, pool coach situation with little in the way of elevation change, but it sure did impress me. Quiet, low revolutions, 70 mph, didn't break stride climbing over the Garden City Skyway or the Burlington Skyway on the way from Buffalo to Toronto. A 2 stroke will only drop a few mph going over those, but that thing just blew over the tops like a car.

My reservation regarding these coaches is that Greyhound was under financial hardship for the coach's entire working life, they have been run hard, and then run some more.

That isn't a game ender, but you need to check carefully to be sure you can recover it within your budget.

I spoke with Lee Kemp who was PM for that project at Stewart and Stevenson at the time he now works for MCI he said the ones they did were model 12s and 1 A or C model MCI he couldn't remember for sure

He told me Greyhound did do some at their own shop he had no idea what Greyhound did or what transmission was used but did say all they swapped had the B400 transmissions

They quit because it was to hard getting their money from the state of CA and Greyhound

The reason my friend is selling the bus, is he going through some financial issues at the moment and needs to raise money.Myself and a friend are looking to build/buy an entertainer.

Not a million dollar Prevost but a simple homebuilt entertainer. Hopefully it will be doing alot of miles per year, so my thinking is MCIs are still in production so parts can still be had. The MC12 is relatively modern, so mechanics out on the road will not be puzzled when they open the engine doors.

I am a little concerned that it was a former Greyhound and especially as BW pointed out that they were under financial hardship at the time.I know and love MCI's and I like the fact that the MC12 has the look and price of the old world and the drive train of the new world.Thanks again for the replies